“Imperial Advisor!”

The middle-aged man in purple robes was overjoyed, his heart surging with excitement.

As he had expected, Xu Pingfeng’s appearance here meant the battle for the capital had been decided.

In that instant, the purple-robed man’s mind raced with possibilities—taking control of the Central Plains, ascending to the throne, donning the imperial yellow robes, becoming the ruler of all under heaven, reclaiming the rightful position, and fulfilling his ancestors’ unrealized dreams.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, his blood rushing and spirits soaring.

However, years of holding a high position had cultivated his composure. He quickly calmed himself, took a deep breath, and maintained his dignified bearing as he said:

“Has the battle for the capital concluded? Has the Imperial Advisor come to escort Us to the capital?”

Xu Pingfeng didn’t turn around, gazing at the churning, foam-crested waves as he sighed:

“We’ve been defeated. Your Majesty should prepare to set sail.”

The purple-robed man’s mind buzzed as if struck by a heavy blow, causing him to stagger backward.

His face quickly turned ashen, his lips trembling, his limbs shaking as if unable to withstand the damp cold of the sea breeze.

The purple-robed man spoke each word deliberately:

“How could this be? What of the White Emperor? What of the Karura Tree Bodhisattva? And Ji Xuan, Qi Guangbo—what of the others?”

Xu Pingfeng shook his head slightly:

“During the Northern Border battle, Xu Qi An successfully advanced to First-Rank Warrior through his tribulation. Neither the White Emperor nor the Karura Tree were his match. The former has retreated overseas, while the latter, representing the Buddhist faction, has torn up its alliance with Yun Province.

“Those who went to battle remain in the capital. Ji Xuan died by Xu Qi An’s hand.”

The purple-robed man’s mind went blank, his heart seeming to stop.

When he had abandoned his clansmen in Potential Dragon City, he hadn’t hesitated, at most feeling momentarily heartbroken. But hearing that Ji Xuan had died in the capital, killed by Xu Qi An, the purple-robed man felt as if struck by five thunderbolts, his heart wracked with unbearable pain.

It wasn’t that he particularly loved this illegitimate son, but rather that he was a Third-Rank Warrior.

How difficult was it to cultivate a Third-Rank Warrior? That blood pill that had enabled Ji Xuan’s transcendent body was one of their lineage’s foundational treasures, and now it was simply gone.

“We have failed our ancestors, failed them utterly!”

The purple-robed man covered his face, his voice heavy with grief, carrying a barely suppressed sob.

Xu Pingfeng offered no words of comfort, his tone remaining cold:

“Your Majesty should first go to Turtle Back Island to rest and recuperate. Today we lost the battle for the capital, but at worst we can continue to bide our time. There may yet be chances for a comeback in the future. During the Martial Sect’s rebellion, Your Majesty’s royal ancestors did just the same.

“Fortunately, we had considered such possibilities. The provisions and wealth stored on Turtle Back can serve as the foundation for our future resurgence.”

One must always prepare for all contingencies, which was why Xu Pingfeng and the Potential Dragon City lineage had sought out an uninhabited island suitable for cultivation and rich in resources, stockpiling wealth, and provisions there.

Should the rebellion fail, they would secretly withdraw to the isolated island to recover their strength.

Now this backup plan would be put to use, though it was hardly a pleasant circumstance.

The purple-robed man’s eyes reddened as he muttered in response:

“Is there truly still hope for a comeback?”

Xu Pingfeng let out a cold laugh:

“Has Your Majesty forgotten how my eldest legitimate son rose to power?”

The purple-robed man was stunned for a moment before inspiration struck, and he blurted out:

“Destiny’s blessing gives him only a mortal’s lifespan!”

His expression shifted from grief to delight as he continued excitedly:

“That’s right! Even with his heavenly cultivation and advancement to First-Rank Warrior, he still has only a hundred years of life.

“Once he dies of natural causes, we can ally with the Buddhist sect and White Emperor again. By then, with the Imperial Mentor still sealed, how could the Great Feng Dynasty possibly stand against us?”

Xu Pingfeng smiled:

“Precisely.

“That’s why I must now go to sea to find the White Emperor and plan this with it. Your Majesty should head to Turtle Back Island first. The sea is vast, and with my carefully arranged formations on the island, it won’t be easy for him to find you.”

Just then, a deep, piercing boom like rolling thunder shook the crystal-clear sky.

The soldiers and experts of the Azure Dragon Fleet looked up in shock, their faces turning ashen with terror, like mortals awaiting doomsday.

A figure streaked through the air, appearing as a mere speck on the horizon one moment and before them the next.

Xu Qi An!

He had caught up.

Xu Qi An’s voice echoed across the heavens:

“Xu Pingfeng, you cannot escape! Flee overseas and I’ll hunt you there. To the highest heavens or the depths of hell, I will kill you!”

Xu Pingfeng’s expression changed dramatically. After Xu Qi An’s rush to the capital to intercept Ji Xuan, this was the second time his emotional control had faltered.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t expect me to catch up so quickly?

“You’re too arrogant, thinking yourself so clever with all the world’s heroes dancing in your palm. You assumed you’d always have an escape route—that after defeat, you could simply abandon your forces in the capital, return swiftly to Yun Province, and set sail with your last hope.

“You schemed against me, harmed me, treated me as your pawn, but did you never consider that through our repeated encounters, I’d learned your habits and nature, understood your character of always keeping a final contingency?

“Did you think everyone was a fool to be manipulated at your whim?

“The more you showed your hand, the more certain your death became.”

Xu Qi An vented his fury freely, releasing the rage that had built up in his heart.

He had waited long for this day—to corner Xu Pingfeng, to crush all his composure underfoot, to show him he was nothing but a leaping clown!

Today, Xu Qi An had succeeded.

Xu Pingfeng hadn’t anticipated his plan to advance to the first rank through the heavenly tribulation, directly leading to the Yun Province army’s defeat.

And now, Xu Pingfeng had again failed to predict how quickly he would give chase.

From the moment Xu Pingfeng left the capital, Xu Qi An knew he would head to Yun Province and set sail with his final hope, temporarily avoiding conflict to plot a future return.

This prediction was based on understanding Xu Pingfeng’s consistent character—his patterns of behavior revealed his “steady” nature and habit of always keeping a final contingency, never allowing himself to be truly cornered.

Moreover, among the Twenty-Eight Constellations, the Azure Dragon stars had never appeared. According to captured Yun Province soldiers in Qing Province, the Azure Dragon stars represented a naval force.

This fleet had never entered the battle—what was it for? The answer was obvious.

In fact, not only had Xu Qi An figured it out, but Wei Yuan had as well, which was why he had left the Universal Mirror in the camp for Xu Qi An to use in searching the vast seas for Xu Pingfeng.

“Imperial Advisor, he’s here, he’s here!”

The purple-robed man cried out in terror:

“Quickly, take Us away, quickly…”

But when fleeing for one’s life, how could Xu Pingfeng burden himself with deadweight?

Clear light burst from beneath his feet as he vanished instantly from everyone’s sight.

Xu Qi An remained perfectly calm, for during his earlier taunting, he had already locked onto Xu Pingfeng, collapsed all qi patterns, and contained all emotions.

A flash of golden swordlight streaked through heaven and earth, vanishing into the void.

The three stages of Jade Shatter:

Lock on—Gather power—Strike!

When approaching the Azure Dragon Fleet, Xu Qi An used his verbal mockery as cover to lock onto Xu Pingfeng. From that moment, Xu Pingfeng could no longer escape his Jade Shatter.

After launching Jade Shatter, Xu Qi An threw out the Nation-Settling Sword and Peace-Maintaining Blade, commanding:

“Kill everyone on those ships. Find me after you’ve slaughtered them all.”

The Peace-Maintaining Blade and Nation-Settling Sword howled through the air, transforming into streaks of dark gold and bright yellow light that wove through the Azure Dragon Fleet.

In an instant, heads went flying, and hot blood sprayed.

“Xu Qi An…”

The purple-robed man called out, wanting to tell Xu Qi An he would surrender, submit, and return to the capital with him, but he only managed to speak three syllables before the Nation-Settling Sword pierced his chest and the Peace-Maintaining Blade took his head.

His purple robes were stained with blood.

“I’ll return to interrogate his soul later…”

Xu Qi An took out the Universal Mirror, commanding it to scan a thousand li in all directions to search for Xu Pingfeng’s position, then vanished toward the horizon with an ear-splitting sonic boom.

…

Xu Pingfeng lacked a warrior’s danger sense, but he knew mortal peril approached because Xu Qi An had drawn his blade against him.

He had collected all intelligence about his eldest legitimate son and thoroughly understood everything about him before he reached Second Rank—his combat ability, trump cards, magical tools, and so on, all were within Xu Pingfeng’s grasp.

Therefore, better than anyone, Xu Pingfeng knew how terrifying his eldest son’s “Intent” was.

Once he locked onto you, you could only gamble your life against his, both parties suffering grievous wounds.

Whatever injury he inflicted on you would be reflected onto himself.

It couldn’t be dodged, couldn’t be blocked by magical tools, only… wagered against with one’s life.

His only option now was to flee using teleportation techniques. Apart from the Crystal Bodhisattva, teleportation was the fastest technique in the current age.

On the vast sea, Xu Pingfeng continuously flashed from place to place, while behind him, a streak of golden sword light pierced through space, rapidly closing in like a death-hunting ghost.

Closer and closer…

Xu Pingfeng’s expression grew increasingly savage. When the golden sword light was breathing down his neck, he made an instant decision to separate his primordial spirit from his physical body.

This was the only reasonable method Xu Pingfeng could think of to avoid Jade Shatter.

It was also Jade Shatter’s only weakness—it had but a single strike.

Between the physical body and primordial spirit, it could only choose one.

Two white-robed figures appeared simultaneously between heaven and sea.

The sword intent that was about to strike the physical body suddenly changed course, attacking the slightly ethereal primordial spirit instead.

Xu Pingfeng’s primordial spirit dissipated and dissolved bit by bit within the sword light, dispersing over the ocean along with the golden radiance.

At this moment, from the sachet at Xu Pingfeng’s waist emerged a pitch-black pennant—a counterfeit of the Soul-Summoning Banner that possessed only a tenth of the genuine article’s power, able to summon souls within ten li.

“Whoosh!”

The Soul-Summoning Banner fluttered, raising ghostly winds, and before long, Xu Pingfeng’s scattered primordial spirit slowly condensed, manifesting as an almost transparent figure.

This figure was extremely fragile, swaying in the sea breeze as if it might disperse at any moment.

Without any hesitation, the spirit immediately entered the physical body.

The body’s eyes opened, and he quickly put away the Soul-Summoning Banner, took out a porcelain bottle from his sachet, pulled out the wooden stopper, and swallowed all the spirit-nurturing pills inside at once.

Only then did he barely stabilize his primordial spirit.

“Fortunately, warriors’ methods against primordial spirits are only mediocre.”

Xu Pingfeng was drenched in cold sweat. His heart held no joy at surviving a great calamity, only lingering fear and anger, as well as a sense of powerlessness.

He, a peak Second-Rank Artificer, could barely withstand a single strike from Xu Qi An.

Forget about contending with him—even escape was this difficult.

This was hard for the proud and arrogant Xu Pingfeng to accept; it was naked humiliation.

With another flash of clear light, he teleported away again.

Xu Qi An wouldn’t let him go and would chase him to the ends of the earth.

Now only the White Emperor could save him. This deity-demon’s background was extraordinary—the White Emperor was merely a puppet, its true identity being someone else entirely.

Xu Pingfeng didn’t attempt to conceal his heavenly fate, because Xu Qi An was now a First-Rank Warrior, one rank above him, and the karmic entanglement between father and son was too deep to forcibly block.

He used teleportation regardless of cost, finally arriving at his destination by following the aura of the scale in his hand.

At the same time, he saw Luo Yuhen at the edge of the coastline.

…

“Hmm?”

Xu Qi An suddenly halted his high-speed flight as he sensed intense pain coursing through his body, seeming to emanate from the depths of his soul.

“The feedback from Jade Shatter isn’t right…”

He immediately noticed something was wrong.

After entering First-Rank, essence, qi, and spirit had merged into one, and primordial spirit and physical body were no longer separate.

Yet he could still sense that his primordial spirit had suffered severe damage while his physical body had only minor injuries, and this was only due to the connected effect after the fusion of body and spirit.

After brief contemplation, he roughly guessed Xu Pingfeng’s method.

Like a difficult birth where one must choose between mother and child.

“Hmph, let’s see how far you can run.”

The Universal Mirror functioned like a radar, scanning a thousand li in all directions. After half an hour of flight, Xu Qi An didn’t detect Xu Pingfeng’s presence but instead saw his aunt.

Luo Yuhen stood between heaven and sea holding her divine sword, her celestial robes and beautiful hair dancing in the wind like an immortal maiden from the ninth heaven, cold and incomparably beautiful.

She frowned as she gazed into the sea depths as if confronting something.

When the Universal Mirror spotted her, Luo Yuhen also sensed the mirror and turned to look.

Their eyes met through the mirror.

Two seconds later, Xu Qi An swooped down before Luo Yuhen and asked in a deep voice:

“Where’s the White Emperor?”

Luo Yuhen glanced down at the sea surface, her voice cool:

“I chased the White Emperor’s soul here, where it entered the sea. I followed it down and saw a deep trench with an extremely terrifying presence. I sensed its aura and came back up.”

An extremely terrifying presence—the Great Wilderness’ true form? Xu Qi An furrowed his brow:

“How strong?”

Luo Yuhen pondered for a moment before saying:

“In single combat, I would have no chance of victory.”

So strong… Xu Qi An drew in a sharp breath. Even in ancient times when deities and demons were active, beings like the Hex God who could match transcendent ranks were extremely rare.

Yet this Great Wilderness, as a descendant of deities and demons, was stronger than First-Rank?

How terrifying must its ancestors have been?

Luo Yuhen continued:

“Xu Pingfeng is down there. He only appeared before me briefly before teleporting to the seafloor. His primordial spirit seems severely injured—your work?”

So he’s down there… He did seek refuge with the White Emperor. Man and beast must have allied long ago… Xu Qi An took a deep breath and looked at Luo Yuhen’s exquisitely beautiful face. “Shall we join forces and go down to meet it? And check if that old Imperial Mentor is dead or alive while we’re at it.”

The Imperial Mentor was still in the “White Emperor’s” hands.